It was a huge success as Mentorque Productions in cooperation with Cleverminds Inc held its Mediacon and Fancon in Dec 1,2023 at the Cinema 5 of SM Mall Of Asia, and The Music Hall, respectively.
"Mallari" which is one of the official entry in the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) stars the Philippines' ultimater heartthrob Piolo Pascual as Fr. Juan Severino Mallari. The first Filipino priest, executed by the Spanish colonial government.
"Mallari" is a partly fictional, partly true-to-life accountinspired by the true story of Fr. Mallari, a Parish priest in Magalang, Pampanga in the 1800's who killed 57 people before being caught, thereby becoming the first and only recorded Filipino serial killer ever, antedating "Jack The Ripper" bymore than 60 years.
"As an actor it's your job to always push yourself, to do always something different, and for my growth, as well, for my evolution. I wanna be able to give myself that challenge and become better. Hindi naman puwede magsettle sa mga datig roles. This time sa mga streaming platforms mas broad na yung mga roles na puwede mong tanggapin, mas madali ng mag-diversify nowadays and i think im just passionate about my job kaya open po ako sa kahit na anong role ang i-offer. " says Piolo in accepting his first horror film.
Piolo is playimg three different roles in three different timelines - combining the audiences' love for retro horror with the immediate relatability of current trend in horror films.
The said movie took four years in the making. The development of its concept started in 2018 and had its green light by Mentorque Productions in 2022, according to its screenwriter Mr. Enrico Santos....
"The truth is we came up with a white board...so, first day ng brainstorming ang unang unang pangalan na nasa white board si Piolo. To convince Piolo all we had to do is to pitch. The four years was research. The project took a little less than a year.
Fr Mallari was sentenced to death, does Piolo think the priest deserves the verdict at that time?
"I am not in a position to actually answer that because my story revolves around the relafionship between mother and son. So, whatever sentence given him that was precedent to the Gomburza, so, it was big thing back then. And if you were to ask me personally, yes Fr Mallari was mentally disturbed. But if he was psycho, I dont know how was it called at that time." Explains Piolo.
On the other hand director Derick Cabrido added "Malaking factor din kasi at that time wala pa tayong mental health. We onky see physical disease , kumbaga wala tayong pangangalaga ungkol sa mental health. At that time kasi maraming isyu, may political din. Kumbaga hindi pa napagaaralan ang mental health. Sa ngayon kasi marami puwede maging sanhi ng ginawa nya puwedeng its a case of schizophrenia, mentally disturbed, multiple personality disorder . Kasi kung ngayon tatanungin yung case, its basic hindi naman siya mabibitay".
"Mallari" also takes pride in its high-quality production and high caliber team, which earned the nod of Warner Bros Pictures to distribute the said film, and promises to be the scariest movie this Christmas season during the MMFF 2023 run in cinemas nationwide.